I was never a fan of Captain America. Nor was I enthused by the prospect of a movie series based around him, despite a decent origin story film in 2011. A boy scout military kid who is unshakeably good and literally brandishes the American flag as armour? Give me strength, or give me a flawed hero... just not blond American patriotism over three films.
Rarely have I been so happy to be so wrong. In Captain America: Civil War, the intelligent plotting, thoughtful character development and blockbuster action of the past two instalments comes to a thrilling apex. Acting as both sequel to Captain America: The Winter Solider and Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Civil War sees the Avengers under scrutiny for the collateral damage they inflict during their terror-fighting missions.
Facing the prospect of being controlled by the United Nations, the Avengers experience a violent ideological split, with Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Vision (Paul Bettany), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and War Machine (Don Cheadle) welcoming the oversight, while Captain America (Chris Evans), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) resist becoming puppets for governmental agendas.
Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and directors Anthony and Joe Russo perfectly capture not only the characters’ personalities but how they relate to each other. Underlying each phenomenal and thrilling action sequence and epic battle is an intricately crafted web of loyalties and betrayals.
With brilliantly layered performances from the entire cast and a truly epic showdown, Civil War is simply magnificent. Captain America: Fuck Yeah.

Rating: 4.5/5